Rene: Welcome to Earshifter. He's Sean Capstick.

Sean: And he's Rene Rouleau. And Rene, why are we here? 

Rene: Sean? We are here because we are going to be talking about a band and that band. Maybe you already know that band and you're gonna learn a whole bunch more about that band. Or if you don't know that band, you're gonna experience a whole new band and a whole new sound, and hopefully you'll like it as much as we do.

Sean: Yes. And this band is again, another new band for me, has not been around to some of the other bands that we've profiled on Earshifter. I wanna talk about MJ Lenderman Jake to his friends. And this is very much a continuation of our Wednesday episode from two episodes, ago. And the fact that I just got back from the Wilco Sky Blue [00:01:00] Sky Festival.

Rene: So jealous, so jealous. 

Sean: And MJ Lenderman was all over the place. It, I feel like I got to know him a little bit. As much as you see, get to know anybody at a rock concert. He played with most of the bands. He played his own set. It was really nice. And he's a, a charming young man. I can see why he has got so much popularity 

Rene: and that's gotta be insane.

On its own. Like you, you're, you've gotta know so many songs, like in your head, basically, if you're playing with all these different bands. Mm. 

Sean: Yeah. Well, I think he's a musician's musician and maybe that's where, you know, we can start. Right? So he was everywhere. My boys have joked that he was an industry plant.

We talked about that and talked about other bands that have been accused of being an industry plant. And I think that, you know, one of the reasons I wanna talk to him about be before he gets bigger, because I think he does, he's on the cusp of something. Let's go to his origin story. So he grew up in North Carolina Asheville.

We are now a big fan of [00:02:00] North Carolina. His dad was a doctor and a musician. And I was doing at the Wilco show, some investigative journalism. That's how much I really take, uh, this ear shifter podcast. Seriously. So I was asking around for some information on MJ Letterman. 'cause I was thinking, you know, this is what I want to do.

Rene: Is that so you can expense the trip 

Sean: or, yes. Yeah. You'll, because there's no expenses, you'll be seeing that on our, our, yeah, our, our invoice. No, there's, I'll be submitting it. 

Rene: There's no profits here at all. There's zero profits. 

Sean: We can think there was this guy sitting there and he was from.

South Carolina and you know, but he, he was, you know, not that down on North Carolina, I was asking him about Lenderman and uh, you know, and if he'd been there. And so there's this bar in Asheville called the Orange Peel. And the orange peel looks like a classic great bar. You know, a thousand people, century old building cool bar.

And so. The story he said about [00:03:00] how Linderman got really interested in music is his dad was a musician and his dad was a doctor, as I said. And so Jim James from my morning jacket was playing at. The orange peel, and for some reason he needed a B12 shot. I don't know why you run out of vitamins, being a rock and roll lifestyle, rock and roll's a hard life, 

Rene: I guess so.

Sean: And so, I guess young Jake went with him, got assigned a. Autographed by Jim James, and it was like, I wanna be a rock star. Hmm. Um, 

Rene: how do we know how old he was at that time, or, 

Sean: I don't, I can recall because I didn't ask the guy. Yeah. I thought that was a super cute story. And then I'm researching and lenderman, you know, shows how popular he is. He has a full page expose in gq. 

Rene: Whoa 

Sean: titled, good for 

Rene: him. 

Sean: The Lenderman that you didn't know, that you thought you knew, but you didn't. Nice. And that was the lead off story. So nice. I don't know if this guy was fact checking for GQ or if he'd read it and [00:04:00] said it sounded like he, he said it was like I was there, you know?

Right, right, right, right. Maybe, maybe he was the GQ author. The other origin story from the gq, which I find pretty funny is lineman liked sports. He you know, played basketball, but he also really liked Guitar Hero. So he and his buddy would play Guitar Hero all the time. And then his dad said, I'm gonna get you real guitar lessons.

And that's how he picked up the guitar and became a musician. So 

Rene: I wonder how many other stories are like that with the youngins and the learning guitar. If they start on like a Xbox rock band and a guitar hero and then they're like, Hey. This is, I could do this. 

Sean: I think it's a good origin story. I 

Rene: think so too.

Sean: But his real origin story, and we talked a little bit about this on the Wednesday episode, so he moved into this place in Haw Creek, so it was a pastoral. Farm in, the [00:05:00] rural Asheville area, the greater Asheville area. And it was a place for musicians. The guy who owned it had rented it out to the guy who produced and drums on his albums.

And so it became a real hub for musicians and his name was Gary, and I think that might be the Gary. Oh, Gary too. Who was in Gary? Two Gary. One Gary One and two from 

Rene: Wednesday. 

Sean: And so you know, it was that cheap rent. High artistic output that helped establish, you know, these two bands that we've profiled on.

Ear shifter. 

Rene: Yeah. 

Sean: Before I get into the chronology, like before we started talking about this, how big on your radar was MJ Landman? 

Rene: Not very big. I think for me. For me it was Wednesday, discovered Wednesday, literally last year because of the top 10 lists. And, and so I did come by it relatively honestly before we did the podcast on it.

And then that's how I first heard of him. And then when Snow Caps came up with their album, I was like, [00:06:00] Hey, there's that guy again. And so that's the extent of it for me. 

Sean: Okay. Let's go through the chronology. Y he's, he's been, he's a young person. He's hasn't been at it that long.

So, his first do it yourself beginnings in Asheville. He played in, in early bands, and he was the drummer in Indigo Desa. Do you know Indigo? 

Rene: I do not. 

Sean: So she's another. Local Asheville, North Carolina artists has had some success. Uh, I've listened to a couple of her songs. They're, they're good.

You know, they, she's got 800,000 monthly listeners, okay? And so he was on her debuted album. He was playing drums, and he, you know. Gigging with a whole bunch of bands. And in that time he started writing his own material. He's been on a couple other songs of hers as well. 

Rene: What is Indigo like? Is it more like a Wednesday or is it more like an MJ Letterman?

Is it more like a Waxie? Like where would 

Sean: you put her? Neither. 

Rene: Yeah. 

Sean: Uh, none of the folky above. It's very [00:07:00] lyrically driven. Her voice is totally upfront. And it's more rhythmic. Give her a listen all. 

Rene: All right. 

Sean: Maybe you'll like her. I thought I know I, I'll listen to her some more. 

Rene: Yeah. Alright, 

Sean: so 20 19, 20 21.

Right. He joins Wednesday band, as we talked about in our previous episodes, and he released his self-titled self-produced album on band camp, and this was with Colin Miller. The guy that had the lease at Hawk Creek. 

Rene: Oh. 

Sean: And about this time, there's a documentary on YouTube called The Rat Bastards of Hawk Creek, where it shows Harsman Wednesday and Miller and a lenderman, hanging out and, you know, yeah.

Yeah. It's like a pretty idyllic rock and roll lifestyle. 

Rene: Yeah. 

Sean: He's got a, a little bit of a band camp following, and then he releases a an album called Ghost of Your Guitar Solo on a local independent record. So of those two records, let's hear, come over from [00:08:00] his first album, his self relief album on, on.

Band camp. Okay, great. Let's hear it.

clip: Why don't you come over? I think I,

we've doing

makes me feel good. At least for now until

later,

when the police come back, can I call you back to help me?[00:09:00] 

Rene: Yeah, so I like that one. You know, like for me, MJ Lenderman, like, I like him and, oh, I forgot to tell you, kind of like pre-homework, homework. I actually committed to listening to the, his latest album on repeat for about four hours. 

Sean: Mm. That's pretty good. 

Rene: I was painting a room, so I couldn't really do anything, so I'm like, I'm gonna commit to this guy.

And, uh, I really enjoyed that album. It was the late, the Fireworks album. Okay, we'll, 

Sean: we'll talk about that. 

Rene: Yeah, I know, but we're getting ahead. I know. Not fair, but I did wanna mention that. Yeah. 

Sean: Okay. Yeah. So this, this, the, the, these two albums are super nice. The, the first one's more melodic and has, conventional song structure.

And, you know, I think the comparison to Neil Young is clear here in, you know, on this first album, which is a great comparison, so. Absolutely. Yeah. There you go. He's gaining some known Allie, [00:10:00] he's gaining a voice. And then 2022 he releases this album called Boat Songs, and this is where his popularity starts to increase.

So a lot of lists in, you know, put boat songs as, you know, one of the top records of 2022, you know. Nice. I'll, I'll pick Pitchfork as a little theme in here. So that was on pitchforks. Best 50, I think, you know, in the thirties or something. Yeah, 

Rene: yeah, yeah. 

Sean: So. Uh, you know, he's gaining some notoriety.

Rene: And by the way, he's actually doing other bands in between these, right? 

Sean: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like, like he is, he is a busy person. Yeah. Like he's, he is touring, this is 2022. This is where, his, his other gig is really taking off the, rat saw God. Album is, is being released and, you know, getting ready and they're, and he's touring all the time.

Yeah. So both songs is a much more mature. [00:11:00] Album than the first two. It's a, a, a full album hits. The last one on his album, dear Life, still has the same same core group of people. Colin Miller's helping with it. He's got another producer on there, but it's still him basically in creating all of these songs.

Let's hear your Every Girl to me, which I think is super nice line, and I think is a really cool, like now he's channeling Sonic Youth and some other interesting, guitar sounds. 

Rene: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's give that a listen.

clip: You a shirt

bloomer at the

scream.[00:12:00] 

Rene: Yeah, this one I like even more than the first one we played. I also find it kind of like a little uplifting, like feels wise. Like it's kind of, it's kind of cute, kind of fun, kind of bouncy. Yeah. Right. I mean, lyrically it's probably different, but. You tell me. 

Sean: No, he's he's talking about, you know, that he really loves this girl.

Like [00:13:00] Yeah. It's, it's, it's perfect. It's bouncy. It's what you see is what you get. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, what you hear is what you get. Yeah. So, yeah. No, it's, I think it's a great little pop song. Yeah. And, and it's an interesting evolution in, in the sound and his songwriting. So some of the other popular songs from this album, one of them.

Song's called Hangover Game, which is about basketball. It's about one of the finals that Michael Jordan was in when it was known as the flu game where Jordan had to play through a really bad flu and, ended up scoring. A million points and doing really good. So the songs about, well, maybe he wasn't had the flu, maybe he had the 40 Pounder Flu, and there's a rhyming couplet in there, like, I like drinking too.

So, you know, he's got, he's developing a really interesting sense of humor in these little Yeah. Uh, songs. Yeah. And the album covers great. It's got a motorcycle and of course. On a boat song. So it's just like, kind of random. And then a woman in leather [00:14:00] spandex latex with a motorcycle helmet.

It's a great album. 

Rene: Amazing. Amazing. And also going back to the basketball, right? 'cause he played basketball, so, yeah. Yeah. It makes sense. 

Sean: Yep. He's like another. Ear shifter artist, a good basketball player. 

Rene: Episode number two. I, no, three. Episode three. 

Sean: Yeah. This is where he, you know, it all comes together for him.

So now he gets signed to anti records. There are spinoff for epitaph records. So do you know. Auntie, I'm gonna quiz you on this, Renee. I know, 

Rene: but I'm always gentle with you. I always go, do you know an Esha? It's okay if you don't. That's usually what I say to you. 

Sean: Okay, so you like anti records. 

Rene: Okay, gimme clues then.

Let's have some fun. 

Sean: Well, they have a whole bunch of W artists, 

Rene: so like Waxie. 

Sean: Mm-hmm. 

Rene: Not wet leg. But no 

Sean: wet leg. 

Rene: Wednesday. 

Sean: No, she's not on web on that. Oh, okay. But Tom Waits. 

Rene: Oh, [00:15:00] I love Tom Waits. 

Sean: The weaker thans, John K. 

Rene: Love the weaker thans. Now, ever since our ear shifter episode, 

Sean: Going alphabetically backwards. Nico case. 

Rene: Nice. 

Sean: The Dream Syndicate. Oh, my Billy Billy Bragg. The Beths the LERs. 

Rene: Wow. 

Sean: And you know, my favorite Nick Cave in the bad seats. 

Rene: Of course. 

Sean: Yeah, yeah. 

Rene: Nice. 

Sean: So Auntie's a pretty cool record label, right? Like, it's, it's there, it's, it's artist focused.

We're gonna promote artists. We're going to, you do what you want. So. What do they do? The first album where they signed Lenderman, they released a live album, which is So what? Yeah. Okay. So he's constantly touring. He's busy with other bands. It's like, okay, we'll catch him in the moment. And you know, this, this live album with the Wind is backup bands called The Wind.

It's a pretty good live album, so you know, it takes the lo-fi tracks. There's some. A big long list of, [00:16:00] of different songs on this, you know, from the new songs. And I think what's also interesting is they also rerelease a, uh. One of his earlier dear Life, small independent records EPS called Knocking, right?

So that's a one of the songs that they release on the live album, but let's not hear any of his songs from live In the Wind. Let's hear the cover that he does on that live album. Let's hear Long Black Veil, Renee. 

Rene: Okay, let's hear that, Sean. That sounds great.[00:17:00] 

Sean: So Renee, tell me how you really feel about that song, because I did pick it to be a little bit provocative. 

Rene: Oh, like to me, you mean. 

Sean: To everybody. 

Rene: Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah, because I literally wrote trolling again because this song is, is not my [00:18:00] favorite at all. It, I literally put meat puppets question mark in a, in all caps.

'cause that's what it reminded me of. It kind of threw me back into the meat puppets kind of vibe. And then to top it off, and you, I think you know this, Sean, and this is not, this is just, it's unrelated. 'cause Was that off the live album or no? 

Sean: Yeah, that was off the live album. 

Rene: The quality of that is great.

The sound is great. The problem for me with live albums is I always get depressed because I always think, oh, I missed a really great concert. That's all I think about while I listen to a live album. So I don't listen to live albums at all. I just can't except Kiss Live One and Kiss Live two back in the day, but I can't do it anymore.

Sean: Okay, so let's leave the live album. It's a Renee thing. Recorded debate. 

Rene: It's a Renee thing, 

Sean: but in addition to knowing that you were gonna love that song it's, I think. A really cool nod by lenderman to his alternative country roots. So 

Rene: yeah, let the original 

Sean: long black [00:19:00] veil is a 1950s country ballad, right 

Rene: Fender or something like that.

Sean: Uh, Zel Zel, I think that, you know, first recorded it, but it really, it's the re-release is, it's the covers of the song that I think really makes that song. So, Johnny Cash. Debuted his cover and I think Johnny of anybody has made that song his own with Joni Mitchell on Johnny Cassius TV show. Oh, nice.

So, you know, that would've been a duet, a lovely duet about a guy who cannot admit. That he is sleeping with his best friend's wife. So he goes to his death keeping that a secret. And the long black veil is what she wears when she visits his grave at night. So it's a, you know, a, a lovely Southern Gothic love song.

And you know, it's been covered by Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, the band, the Dead, Mick Jagger does a cover with the chieftains, right? And to name a few and. Nick [00:20:00] Cave will come back up on Nick Cave's cover album, kicking Against the Pricks. It's one of the great cover songs that he does on that, and he, his version I think is probably, is Rivals the best?

Johnny's and the best, yeah. Yeah, yeah. MK Landman, Scott Chops. He's picked a really cool song to end that. And, you know, and that was recorded at the pitchfork after party for some, you know, like, uh, awards and things. So he's, he's now arrived in the school? 

Rene: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's in the circle. 

Sean: Okay. So let's listen to the other cir. 2023, the first release on anti the single knocking. Or do you want hear the live version? You don't want to hear the live version 'cause it would make you feel bad. It makes feel sad. Let's hear the single knocking. Let's hear the single.[00:21:00] 

clip: What she has,

she gave me wings.

Sean: Okay, so we just heard the chorus. The end where he's channeling Dylan. He's talking about knocking on heaven's door. And it's a great emotive song that really [00:22:00] is, gives you a feeling of wow, like he's now moved from a simple songwriter to now he's really being emotive and talking about a lot of songs.

Renee, what do you think? 

Rene: Yeah this, I love this song, but that part at the end with the knock, knock knocking, uh, gives me goosebumps. Pretty awesome. Like just unexpected kind of. 'cause it kind of, for me anyway, it just kind of like just builds and gets bigger and bigger and I'm just like, holy shit, I was blown away.

Sean: So you're starting to like Letterman? 

Rene: I, I always liked Letterman. Remember I listened to the fireworks album for like four hours and now no complaints. That was awesome. 

Sean: Okay, so let's talk about his breakthrough album 2024 Manning Fireworks. This album expands the instrumentation, the players, but it really does include everyone from his previous collaborators, like the guys from Haw Creek Harsman.

She sings backing vocals on a number of the songs, but. Landman plays more of the instruments, like he's playing drums on [00:23:00] this. He's playing more, you know, in terms of the guitars, and he continues on the production. So before we start into the songs, Renee, we had so much fun last episode. Can we discuss some more Mon greens?

What? Mon Greens 

Rene: on greens. What are mon greens again? 

Sean: Well, you're familiar with Sylvia Wright, the American author who coined it after a phrase, she recalled mishearing as a young girl. This is when you mishear song lyrics. So she, you know, the Bonnie Earl of O Mary. The 19th, the 17th century Scottish ballad, about two unfortunate aristocrats.

Rene: I think. So 

Sean: it's a, it's it's faded over the last two centuries, but like in 18 hundreds it was still pretty much a banger. So somehow similar. Was it on 

Rene: pitchforks list though? 

Sean: I think at that point they only had two times, so, yeah. She listened to it when she was a young girl. It goes Ye Highlands and Yens.

Oh, where [00:24:00] have you been? They have slayed the Earl o' Mary and Lady Mona Green, and the actual line is and laid him on the green. 

Rene: Oh, okay. 

Sean: But she's has, it took her like 20 or 30 years to somebody point it out. So much like Shea's lounge. 

Rene: Oh, okay. 

Sean: Shea's Lounge. What are your favorite Hmong Greens?

Rene: I can't think of them on the fly, but, 

Sean: well, how about electric light orchestra? Don't bring me down, Bruce. 

Rene: Okay. 

Sean: He's actually saying, don't bring me down Gru. 

Rene: Okay. But, or I got one Bruce Springsteen. The do the douche. 

Sean: Right? 

Rene: The douche, you know what I'm talking about? 

Sean: The douche as opposed to the douche.

Rene: Yeah. 

Sean: Blinded by the light. 

Rene: Blinded by the light wrecked up like a douche is what a lot of people thought it said. Not. Not me. 'cause I knew better. 'cause I'm not fan because you're a fan. I'm a true fan. Yeah. But a lot of people thought it was like, 

Sean: let's wreck. Who liked, who liked Manfred Man better than uh uh, sP Springsteen. Yeah. Yeah. They're all the [00:25:00] douches. 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah. But wrecked up like a douche. That's, that's a famous one. 

Sean: That's a favorite. Hmong Green. Yeah. Not a Hmong Green. I think a lesson to live by is I wanna rock and roll all night and part of every day 

Rene: Wait, kiss?

Yes. It is part of every day. It's not party every day. 

Sean: I think that's the role thing. Are you sure? Because you shouldn't party. You can't rock and roll all night and party every day. 

Rene: Listen, I, we just talked about KISS and I was a huge KISS fan, and I think they could party every day. And rock and roll all night.

That's just who they are. 

Sean: So that's not a mon green in your, in your opinion. 

Rene: I I, did you fact check it? Is it party or part? I'm really curious. Now it 

Sean: is party every day. Okay. But I prefer to part 

Rene: Oh, you heard it that 

Sean: every day. 

Rene: Got it. Got it. So did you actually hear it that way, the, when you heard it? 

Sean: Oh yeah.

I, I think it's I wanna rock and roll all night and part of every day you gotta get a little sleep, you get some exercise. Okay. 

Rene: But no. Because Sean, I don't know this, we were friends for a super long time. Did you, were you a KISS [00:26:00] fan as a 12-year-old, 11-year-old? No, 

I 

Sean: wasn't cool 

Rene: enough. Okay. 

Sean: Yeah. Yeah.

No, I, I, I appreciate KISS now with irony as opposed to I was never a member of the KISS Army. 

Rene: Ah, yeah. Yeah. I had the first KISS comic, the whole deal. 

Sean: You were cooler. 

Rene: I don't know about that, but Yeah. 

Sean: But what is the best ever Hmong Green? We saw them at Riot Fest Public Enemy. 

Rene: Okay, what's the mongering?

Sean: Death row water buffalo. 

Rene: Yeah. So what are they actually saying? 

Sean: What a brother. No. And I have to thank our good friend Jacqueline Bruner, the coolest dj. Yeah. Station manager in the world for putting. Water buffalo in my head when it takes a nation of millions to come out, that's the longest Hmong green.

She also prefers part of everyday as well. Okay, so, now that we've heard of Hmong Greens Yes. I want you to tell me what he says. On wristwatch. Let's listen [00:27:00] to wristwatch. 

Rene: Okay, let's listen to wristwatch, which is one of my faves.

clip: I. Your [00:28:00] amazing.

Your pretty face.

I

do.

Sean: So Renee, he earlier in the song, he says he has a beach home up in Buffalo, which he's doing pretty good with a beach host in Buffalo, but he's got the houseboat docked at where? 

Rene: I hear Hippodrome, but I believe it's something else. 

Sean: So what is a Hippodrome? 

Rene: The Hippodrome, wasn't that a club in London, England, 

Sean: Manchester.

That's [00:29:00] where the, 

Rene: the, oh, Manchester. 

Sean: Yeah. New order hung out. Yeah. And all those, um, factory records. Right, right, right, 

Rene: right. Yeah. 

Sean: So I've asked other people somebody says, I've got a houseboat docked at the hypno. Do. And I'm like, what's a hypno do? And she said, without any irony. And, and guileless, it's a dominatrix who in also hypnotizes their submissive as well as dominates them.

Rene: Oh, okay. And he is got a houseboat there. 

Sean: So I think Hmong greens are really good. Do you wanna just keep thinking that it is a houseboat docked in Manchester? 

Rene: Yeah, I think I do. But it just lyrically it does say MBO Dome. 

Sean: Yes. So what is a mbo? 

Rene: I don't know. We'd have to ask mj 

Sean: or you could ask The Japanese MBO is a slang term that refers to attractive [00:30:00] but unintelligent man, it's a part mani, which is a great literary device of a him and bimbo.

Sexually appealing, naive and kind-hearted. So a lot of the Dragon Ball Z guys are hi MBOs. But, 

Rene: but the, the fact that it's with Dome though, isn't that an actual place that we just don't know about? 

Sean: Do the MBOs 

Rene: Him Dome hang out? 

Sean: Yeah. No. MBOs all hang out. That's what I 

Rene: think think is, is it a proper name, place?

That's my question. 

Sean: It is not capitalized in the lyrics that I have seen. I don't think it's a noun. It's capitalized. Oh, in your lyrics, do you have the 

Rene: Spotify lyrics? 

Sean: Oh, so maybe it is a noun. Maybe that is where the MBOs go. I 

Rene: don't know. 

Sean: I don't think it means that much, but I think it's a great port.

It's a invitation to discuss like we discussing 

Rene: right now. 

Sean: It's an invitation to discuss that or to make it a mon green. 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. All right. Fair enough. We'll leave it there. 

Sean: Okay. [00:31:00] So this is a great album. All I, we could play all of the songs. There's a lot of great songs on this lot. Lots of 

Rene: honestly.

Well, like what about sh she's leaving You. Mm-hmm. Oh my God, I love that one. 

Sean: It's a great song. 

Rene: Oh my god, it's so good. And by the way, did you watch the video? 

Sean: Yes. 

Rene: It's crazy. 

Sean: That's hilarious. Yeah. With Harsman and a little you know, like Yeah. Too old singing. 

Rene: Yeah, 

Sean: the backup vocals.

Rene: Yeah. And then this weird businessman at the end, like, it's just so weird. Like speak of like weird videos. We're talking about wet legs, weird videos. This one's so weird too. I'm like, wow, what is happening? I loved it. It was great. 

Sean: They're all like little vignettes, funny little songs. And then there's the last song.

Rene: Oh, that is quite the song. Not my favorite on the album, to be honest. Uh, fruit. Not good reason maybe, but just I could explain the reason, which is it's an 11 minute song.

Sean: But you like long songs. 

Rene: I do, but it does, it is a lot of noodling as I [00:32:00] recall, 

Sean: and not many lyrics. 

Rene: Yeah. 

Sean: You like, you like long noodling, non lyrical songs, so I'm surprised.

Rene: Are you, 

Sean: it's called Bark at the Moon. Yeah. And it is, it refers to him playing guitar Hero and bark at the Boon and having Ozzy o Ozzy Osborne. Yeah. So what if we'd have kept up with our rock band guitar heroes? Like honestly, man, I was, if, if I'd have been able to drum run to the hills on hard, how much of our life would be different?

Maybe we'd be rockstar, famous, just not podcast famous. 

Rene: Yeah. Or just poor. Because we didn't get famous 'cause we tried and it's hard. 

Sean: I think if you, I don't regret a lot of things in my life and I'm not going to regret not being able to get run to the hills on, on rock band drums, but. There aren't many more challenges that have given me that I tried harder.

[00:33:00] Like 

Rene: wow. 

Sean: Yeah. Yeah. And so I think my life could have been different if I'd have done that. But, I would've taken a Learjet here 'cause I'd have been a session drummer for, for some. But this is my 

Rene: point is like, did you want either of your sons to be musicians and chased that? Which is very, this is very ironic 'cause we're on, we're on a podcast here about music.

It is a hard, hard grind and it's half luck, half talent. That is why we do this fricking series, is because these bands deserve more than they got. 

Sean: Well said. I'm glad I'm glad for our fate, Renee. Yeah. So let's talk about where Me Too Lenderman is right now. So the big thing in 2024 is he started collaborating with Waxahatchee Hirschfield, it's Tiger Blood, great album. She says that he is one of her most trusted collaborators. He played all of the guitar, he sings on right back to it, and that's a great song on the album. Love that song. So he's, like 20, 24 is a pretty good year. And then [00:34:00] surprisingly in 2025, he becomes a drummer again as part of Snow Caps.

And so I saw Snow caps at I Know the Jesus Christ, I know find the Boco Festival. So snow caps are Brad Cook, who is a Durham Bass influential producer, and. Do you know any Brad Cook? So he produced uh, Bonnie there. 

Rene: Oh, nice. 

Sean: Yeah. That's okay. He produced Waxahatchee, but it gets interesting now, iron and wine.

The iron and wine compilation with Ben Bruell from uh, yeah. 

Rene: Yeah. Band of Horses. Yeah. 

Sean: Band of Horses. Nice. Snail mail. 

Rene: Oh, 

Sean: nice. Nathan Radcliffe and The Night Sweats. Yeah. Which I think is interesting. Yeah. Uh, Mavis Staples, which is pretty cool. Nice. Kevin Morby, the Indigo Girls. Kevin Morby. 

Rene: Yeah. 

clip: In, yeah.

Sean: Hooray for the riff wrap. 

Rene: Yeah. 

Sean: And Interesting. I didn't know this. Heated backup vocals on the mountain goats beat the Champ. 

Rene: Wow. Yeah. Wow. 

Sean: So this guy gets around. 

Rene: Yeah. 

Sean: With [00:35:00] Allison Crutchfield from PS Elliot and interesting his a and r rep at anti records. So like she's, she works for anti records and she was the person who signed him to do that.

You know, change record labels. 

Rene: Sorry, I'm confused. Allison Crutchfield. 

Sean: Allison Crutchfield, 

Rene: the sister of 

Sean: the twin sister of Katie Crutchfield, 

Rene: who is Waxahatchee, essentially. Yeah, essentially. 

Sean: So they were so cute. 

Rene: Wow. Oh, 

Sean: they came out. Letterman's playing drums. Brad cook's playing bass in the back and the sisters are just having a great time.

Being, that's 

Rene: awesome. 

Sean: Yeah. Playing all those infectious little hits with snow cap. So 

Rene: yeah. Solid. 

Sean: So 2026, I wonder what the future holds. He's gonna relentlessly tour. He is been on tour constantly. Just played Buffalo, you know, guess check out his, uh, uh, lake house. Um, nice 

Rene: one beach house.

But yeah. 

Sean: Uh. He's on tour with Zach Bryant. [00:36:00] Do you know Zach Bryant? 

Rene: Yeah. 

Sean: So he's opening up for Zach Bryant, 

Rene: Jesus. Oh, that's good exposure, I think. 

Sean: Yeah. Yeah. So, 

Rene: because I think it's the same, like it could, yeah. I think that could work well for him. 

Sean: Yeah. 

Rene: Do you like Zach Bryant? 

Sean: I don't know him. 

Rene: Yeah. Fair enough.

He's way too popular for you. He's like, he's not under a rock somewhere. 

Sean: He's, I don't think he's in near shift or bend. 

Rene: No, no. 

Sean: Renee, how much are you looking forward to seeing Linderman? Waxahatchee we're seeing together in April. At Massey Hall, 

Rene: we are. 

Sean: You have a ticket? We've 

Rene: I have a ticket, 

Sean: yes. 

Rene: I'm so excited.

I totally forgot. That's awesome. I'm so excited. 

Sean: Yeah. And so 

Rene: that's amazing. 

Sean: It's gonna be so cool. Listen, and, and, you know, and there. Coming together as collaborators. They build it as a joint show, so they're gonna play each other's songs. Oh my God, it's gonna be so 

Rene: cool. I am psych. I totally forgot I, that's like a little Christmas gift or something.

I love it. 

Sean: Thank my wife. 

Rene: Yay. And that's not the first time I can [00:37:00] thank your wife for bringing me to Waxahatchee, by the 

way. 

Sean: Nope, she's pretty good. So Renee, despite all this momentum, popularity, critical acclaim. What is his popularity statistics? 

Rene: Okay, so, uh, Spotify monthly listeners right now is at 600,000 monthly listeners.

So, you know, uh, bigger than some I think Joy formidable was 400,000. So. Yeah, he's, he's got momentum, like you said. I think he's, he's on the up, 

Sean: so it'll be interesting to see what the future holds for him. That's for sure. I think 

Rene: so, 

Sean: yeah. So, Renee, despite covering long block veil why is he an Earshifter bed?

Rene: You know, it's a, it's a weird one man. Because for me he grabs me, but I can't really explain in a concrete way what is so different about him. Do you know what I mean? Like, I like his music a lot, but I can't say, well, he's such a groundbreaker. 'cause I, I don't, I don't have the musical sensibility to recognize anything that's truly groundbreaking.

And we [00:38:00] did talk about the fact that he kind of, uh, does a lot of kind of classic rock and roll, but in a, in a great way. So. I, I don't know the answer actually, but I do love him. And so that counts. 

Sean: I think it's that little bit of intangible you know, he is charming. Again, I it's a fact.

It's not a brag like you would've loved seeing him at Wilco. He was very, very charming. 

Rene: I get to see 

Sean: him soon and you'll get to see him soon. There's one point where we're looking down across from the Jay Hawks Classic. You know, Americana, like again, he's very reverential in terms of his musical influences.

So he, you know, we can see him. It's this, it's the middle of the day, it's an afternoon show, and he's, he's looking at the band just like rocking out and, you know, and it's like, well, he's a really nice guy and I'm really happy that he produces nice music. 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. And I can't wait to see him.

It's 

Sean: gonna be [00:39:00] great. 

Rene: And he does, he does. Like, he's got one of those warm faces too, Sean, like quite frankly, a bit like the weaker than lead singer. He is just got one of those warm, friendly faces, approachable face. Don't know if that's true, but it sounds like it might be. And uh, and then the last thing I wanna say is, did you watch the wrist?

Watch video 

Sean: with the yeah, the truck. That's your truck. That's, that's the guy who did all those, um, stupid MTV Jackass, uh oh. Was it? Yeah. That's the, the pig that, that, yes. About things. Badass. 

Rene: It was so funny and ridiculous and I'm like, what am I watching here? But I loved it. It was great. 

Sean: And it kept, it kept happening over and over.

Yeah. Balls 

Rene: and then inflatables 

clip: and it was like Oculus, but Awesome. 

Sean: It is fun. Yeah. Renee, who are we gonna hear next time? 

Rene: Well, interesting you should ask 'cause I think we're going to go back to our theme of bands that start with w that are female led. So we're going right back to that.

You'd be like, wait, we already did, are we 

Sean: going right back to it? 

Rene: [00:40:00] We're I mean, not right back to it, but new season, second season. So far we've done wet leg. And we've done Wednesday, and this is yet another female led band starting with W 

Sean: Can't Wait. All right, till next time. Till next time, 

Rene: we hope you enjoyed this episode of Year Shifter.

Tune in next time where we'll cover another band that deserves more. You can find Year Shifter on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok Friend us or listen to our playlist on Spotify and visit ear shifter.com for more information. Special thanks. Go to our logo designer Stuart Derby, and our intro outro music by Joe Novak.

You can find him as Bye. Bye. Badman, one word on SoundCloud and a big shout out to Joe for being our awesome sound engineer slash editor. Until next time.